Hello, and thank you for stopping by the Forensic Files^® website.

One of the most rewarding things about producing this show is being able to assist with other cases. You may remember the recent episode “All Butt Certain,” that showed how Melinda Elkins learned to collect DNA samples from watching our program. She then applied this knowledge when she instructed her wrongly-incarcerated husband on how to collect a cigarette butt from a fellow inmate for testing.

After we aired “A Tight Leash,” which featured former Sha Na Na member-turned-forensic linguist Robert Leonard, we got numerous inquiries from investigators wondering how they could reach him, hoping he could lend a hand in cases they were working on.

Also, in the episode “Soiled Plan,” an investigator got the idea to try DNA testing on oak leaves found in a suspect’s vehicle after seeing “Planted Evidence,” in which plant DNA from a seed pod linked the suspect to a specific tree found at the scene of the crime.

Coming up July 18 at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, we have another episode that might inspire some investigators. “About Face” tells the story of a Jane Doe skeleton and the steps detectives took to identify her. They had a skull and photos of missing women, and wondered if there was a way to do a comparison without paying a high-tech lab thousands of dollars for photo or video superimposition.

A dedicated team at the University of North Carolina’s Wilmington campus did some trial and error experimenting. They took photos of the skull tilted at the same angles as the women's heads in the missing persons photos, and compared them using a free program available online called The GNU Image Manipulation Program or “GIMP” for short.

(Check out the GIMP here: www.gimp.org)

I won’t tell you how it turned out, but I will say bones can be used to identify someone --- long after they’re gone.

Also coming up on July 11 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time, we’ll premiere “Printed Proof,” the story of two real estate agents who were killed when they went to show a house. Evidence stuck to a piece of tape, and mysterious fibers lead investigators to a suspect whose intentions went beyond home ownership.

And finally, July 25th 9:00PM Eastern/Pacific, in one of the most shocking cases I’ve ever seen: A little boy, scared, alone, and in his pajamas, ran by himself to his pre-school located more than a mile from his home and told his teachers that something had happened to his grandparents. It’s an amazing, heartbreaking story you have to see to believe. Don’t miss “In the Bag” on truTV.

And who knows, maybe someone out there will see something in one of these shows that might help solve another case.

Thanks for visiting; see you next month!

Paul Dowling

Executive Producer